BNM Raises Alarm Over US EXIM Bank's $1.25 Billion Support For Pakistan's Reko Diq Mining Project

(MENAFN- IANS) Quetta, Dec 12 (IANS) The Baloch National Movement (BNM) expressed deep concern over the United States EXIM Bank's decision to extend $1.25 billion in financing support to Pakistan for the Reko Diq mining project in Balochistan, warning that any form of financial assistance to Islamabad would worsen the human rights abuses faced by the Baloch people.

According to BNM's spokesperson Qazi Dad Mohammad Rehan, the recently announced partnership between EXIM Bank, US authorities, and Pakistan violates global norms and basic human conscience.

“We have serious and fundamental reservations about this move. We have repeatedly made it clear that any form of financial assistance or economic partnership with Pakistan directly results in further genocide of the Baloch nation, enforced disappearances, and the systematic plunder of our natural resources,” Rehan stated.

The BNM spokesperson asserted that the new US economic package of $1.25 billion for Pakistan will, under the guise of "so-called development" in Balochistan, strengthen projects that will inevitably lead to“intensified military actions, forced displacement of local populations, and an accelerated and more severe takeover of Baloch resources”.

He stated that the US, having fought its own struggle against colonial oppression and being well aware of the historical consequences of suppressing national liberation movements, should understand the implications of such a partnership.

“Despite the imbalance of power, every national movement in history has resisted external domination until its rightful national and historic objectives were achieved. This partnership with Pakistan effectively undermines the Baloch national movement and reinforces state repression,” the spokesperson stressed.

Rehan further stated that American financial support will ultimately contribute to the construction of more military camps and checkpoints in Balochistan, the expansion of surveillance infrastructure, the exploitation of natural resources, and efforts to crush Baloch resistance.

“In these circumstances, EXIM's financing is nothing less than providing oxygen to Pakistan's occupation and the ongoing genocide of the Baloch nation,” he emphasised.

Highlighting the atrocities in Balochistan, the spokesperson further said,“Before celebrating attractive investment prospects in Balochistan, the United States must confront its own conscience and values.”

“Thousands of Baloch youth are suffering in secret Pakistan Army detention centres under inhumane conditions, while thousands of mothers and sisters have turned into living embodiments of grief as they wait endlessly for their loved ones. In such a situation, US assistance does not heal the wounds of the Baloch nation - it deepens them,” he added.

The BNM expressed hope that the American conscience will stand against Pakistan's oppression instead of“empowering it in the name of investment.”

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